Best Video Editing Laptops of 2019

Few tasks require more horsepower than video editing. While you can trim small clips with even an inexpensive laptop, to work with raw HD or 4K video or to create special effects, you need a fast processor, strong discrete graphics and a high-resolution display, which is why we crafted a list of the best laptops for video editing.

If you're wondering if your gaming laptop can edit video, it probably can, but a dedicated media creation system is more likely to get perfect renders every time. And if you need the best laptop for handling more graphics-intensive apps beyond video editing, you may want to consider getting a workstation.

For a video editing laptop, you want something with a discrete graphics card. The cheapest on our list, which boast Nvidia's GeForce GTX 1060 GPU, start at around $1,099. For something with a more powerful card like a high-end Quadro or GTX 1070, as well as features like a high-end display, you may pay around $2,500 or more. If you need a mouse to accompany your new video editing laptop, consider getting one of these great productivity mice.

Best Overall: 15-inch MacBook Pro with Touch Bar

If you prefer editing on an Apple machine, the new 15-inch Macbook Pro with Touch Bar is hard to top. It comes with a faster Intel Core i7 CPU, a more powerful Radeon Pro 460 GPU and a brighter and more colorful display. The Touch Bar can even adapt depending on what app you're using, so you can apply filters or scrub through a clip without ever leaving fullscreen mode. Weighing just 4 pounds and 14.9mm thick, the new MacBook is even thinner and lighter than last year's model. The 15-inch MacBook Pro is easily the best video editing laptop around.

Best Display: Dell XPS 15 (2018)

This baby’s 4K screen will take your eyes on a journey of color, covering 164 percent of the sRGB color gamut and blasting 447 nits of brightness. Those sharp visuals are matched by even sharper performance, with the XPS 15’s 8th Gen Core i7 CPU and Nvidia GTX 1050 Ti Max-Q. The carbon-fiber beauty is even lighter than last year’s model as well, weighing only 4.2 pounds, making this a lean, portable killing machine.

Best Performance: Alienware Area-51m

Meet one of the best video editing laptops: The Alienware Area-51m. This baby is powered by an overclockable 9th Gen Core i9 desktop processor combined with the latest RTX 2080 GPU. It completely crushed the HandBrake benchmark, transcoding a 4K video to 1080p in just 6 minutes flat. Along with its immense, upgradable power, you get the machine's gorgeous design, an SSD with a 1,272 MBps transfer rate and a solid 17.3-inch panel.

Best Detachable: Microsoft Surface Book 2 (15-inch)

Both a powerful laptop and a portable tablet, the Surface Book 2 is the most versatile notebook you can use to edit video. It comes with a powerful 8th Gen Core i7 CPU and discrete Nvidia GTX 1060 GPU, as well as an incredibly vibrant 3240 x 2160 display. It lasted over 12 hours on our battery test, so you can edit all day without fear of losing a charge. If the 15-inch version is too big or too expensive for you, there's also a 13.5-inch option, but that steps down to either integrated or GTX 1050 graphics.

Best 2-in-1: HP Spectre x360 (15-inch, 2019)

The HP Spectre x360 is an elegant machine capable of completing the HandBrake benchmark in 10 minutes and 45 seconds. Its 15.6-inch, 4K display is a little dim (247 nits), but it will blow you away with 157 percent of the sRGB spectrum. To top it all off, the Spectre x360 features a super comfortable keyboard and a battery that can last up to 8 hours and 9 minutes on a charge. The included HP Active Pen has two programmable buttons and 2,048 pressure sensitivity levels.

Best For Artists: HP ZBook x2

The HP ZBook x2 is pricey, but it gets you an adaptable tool for creative work. The matte, 14-inch 4K display lets you edit at any resolution, and, if you prefer a stylus, you can use the shortcut keys for quick actions or keep the Bluetooth keyboard nearby. The Quadro GPU could be stronger, but there are few devices that cater so directly to creatives.

Best Business: Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Extreme

Lenovo propelled its X-series line straight into the future when it revealed that the ThinkPad X1 Extreme (starting at S1,673) would be its first 15-inch and the first to have a discrete graphics card. It comes with a Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050 Ti 4GB GPU and can be outfitted with an 8th Gen Intel Core i9 CPU as well as 64GB of RAM, which makes it a monster for video editing. It only took 10 minutes and 3 seconds to transcode a 4K video to 1080p on the HandBrake benchmark, which is twice as fast as the 20:30 category average.

The ThinkPad X1 Extreme met 12 MIL-STD-810G standards, which means it can survive high humidity, exposure to sand and dust, extreme temperatures and repeated drops. It also supports dTPM encryption, Intel vPro, a fingerprint reader and an optional Smart Card reader, making it ideal for business use. Additionally, it has an optional IR camera so you can sign into your laptop with Windows Hello facial recognition.

Best Workstation: HP ZBook Studio x360 G5

The HP ZBook Studio x360 is beyond powerful. It's ready to kill with its Intel Xeon processor and Nvidia Quadro graphics all packed into its aluminum, military-durable chassis. It took 10 minutes and 40 seconds to transcode a 4K video to 1080p, which blows past the 16:44 workstation average, making it an ideal candidate for editing. On top of its power, it has a stunning 4K display, bouncy keyboard and long battery life all in a 2-in-1! It was so great that we awarded it our Editor's Choice award.

Best Gaming: Alienware m15

If you plan on editing some gameplay videos, you'll need an actual gaming machine first. The Alienware m15 (starting at $1,352) comes with a speedy 8th Gen Core i7 and up to a GTX 1070 Max-Q that blazed through our HandBrake benchmark (transcoding a 4K video to 1080p) in 9 minutes and 51 seconds. You can not only game but video edit on a display capable of reproducing 150 percent of the sRGB color gamut and emitting a solid 284 nits of brightness. On top of that, this baby will last 6 hours and 25 minutes on a full charge, which is impressive for a gaming laptop of this caliber. Even more a gaming laptop, it's one of the best laptops for video editing.

Most Innovative: Asus ZenBook Pro 15

This 4K speed demon packs an Intel Core i9 processor and a Nvidia GTX 1050 Ti GPU in a lightweight, sexy chassis accompanied by Asus' most interesting feature: the ScreenPad. Essentially a second display, ScreenPad is built into the touchpad to enhance your multitasking. There are several apps built into the ScreenPad that can transform the secondary display according to use case including a numpad, calculator or a music player. It comes in handy when you want to game on your main display and watch a game guide on the second.

When you're not fawning over the awesome ScreenPad, you get to take-in that sexy design and enjoy that eye-popping 141 percent of sRGB color gamut on the 4K display while you're bouncing around its comfortable keyboard.

Best Value: Lenovo Legion Y7000

If you're looking for the most bang for your buck then look no further than the Legion Y7000. For $1,099, you get a speedy 8th Gen Core i7 processor and a GTX 1060 GPU that completed the HandBrake benchmark in just 9 minutes and 24 seconds. And for the price, you also get a gorgeous 15.6-inch, 1080p display, as it covered 153 percent of the sRGB color spectrum and emitted 277 nits of brightness. Despite being a gaming laptop, its battery life isn't too bad either, lasting 4 hours and 28 minutes on a charge. Even for an affordable price, it makes its mark as one of the best video editing laptops.

As soon as Rami Tabari sprung out of the College of Staten Island, he hit the ground running as a Staff Writer for Laptop Mag. He reviews every shape and form of a laptop as well as all sorts of cool tech. You can find him sitting at his desk surrounded by a hoarder's dream of laptops, and when he navigates his way out to civilization, you can catch him watching really bad anime or playing some kind of painfully difficult game. He’s the best at every game and he just doesn’t lose. That’s why you’ll occasionally catch his byline in Tom’s Guide, taking on the latest Souls-like challenge.